For the park in Los Angeles, California after which the song was named, see MacArthur Park

"MacArthur Park" is an epic song, written by Jimmy Webb and first performed by Richard Harris in 1968. Harris' seminal recording topped the music charts in Europe, while peaking at number two on the U.S. charts.

It was an unusual single, running for more than seven minutes, with a long, climactic orchestral break. The lyrics were more symbolic and sentimental than descriptive, and were apparently about a lost love and a rendezvous in the park. It has been covered more than fifty times, including versions by Waylon Jennings, Glen Campbell, Maynard Ferguson, Liza Minnelli, and most notably, by Donna Summer in a 1978 disco version that topped the U.S. charts.

The sentimentality of the song made it an easy target for parody. "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a version of the song for his album Alapalooza with new lyrics recapping the plot of the movie Jurassic Park. The comedy series SCTV aired a sketch with an actor playing Richard Harris singing "MacArthur Park" and waiting in agony during the orchestral break to finish the song while the show moved on to other skits. A poll by American columnist Dave Barry selected "MacArthur Park" as the worst song ever recorded.